Category Archives: Court

Portland Man who threw flare into cop car during May 1 protests gets 5 years?

A 23-year-old man who threw burning flares into a Portland police cruiser and the downtown Target store during May 1 protests that overran downtown Portland admitted guilt Monday and will be sentenced to five years in prison.

A local TV station aired live footage of Damion Zachary Feller hurling a flare through a shattered picture window at Target, prompting employees to run with fire extinguishers to put out a burning section of carpet. TV and cellphone cameras also caught Feller throwing a flare through the shattered window of a battered police SUV parked across the street from Target, at Southwest 10th Avenue and Morrison.

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The Bunkerville Prosecution Panic Attack

Late night filings by the Bunkerville Prosecution team has shown there will be a repeat performance of an Unconstitutional trial taking place beginning October 10th in Las Vegas.

As in the previous two trials, of which the jury acquitted the defendants of the majority of charges, the prosecution has filed a last minute 26-page motion to exclude any type of defense these men might attempt.

The prosecution has motioned to force the defense, from the beginning of jury selection, into opening/closing arguments, and including all direct and cross examination of witnesses, to NOT bring up anything they deem to not have any foundation in the law, including Self defense.

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Navajo tribe says ready to sue Trump over changes to Utah monument

The Navajo Nation will sue the Trump administration if it tries to reduce the size of the Bears Ears National Monument in Utah, its top lawyer told Reuters on Thursday, ahead of the release of a broad government review of such sites across the country.

President Donald Trump had ordered the Interior Department to examine whether 27 national monuments designated by past presidents could be reduced or rescinded to make way for oil and gas drilling and other economic development.

The results have not been announced, but a leak of the review obtained by the Washington Post shows the Interior Department will recommend shrinking some sites, including Bears Ears, a 1.35-million-acre wilderness that the Navajo and other tribes consider sacred.

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Lawsuit challenges BLM’s oil leases, including Nye County

The Center for Biological Diversity and the Sierra Club filed a lawsuit this week challenging the U.S. Bureau of Land Management’s June sale of oil and gas leases in parts of Nevada, including Nye County.

On June 14, the BLM offered nearly 200,000 acres of public lands in Nevada’s Battle Mountain district for fossil fuel development, including fracking. Among the affected areas are Big Smoky and Railroad valleys in Nye County, Diamond Valley in Eureka County and the Diamond, Fish Creek and Sulphur Creek mountain ranges.

The lawsuit, filed Monday in the federal court district of Nevada in Reno, alleges the BLM failed to consider the potential consequences of oil drilling in the area, from contamination of critical desert water sources to increased seismic activity and emission of climate-altering greenhouse gases.

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Senators to reintroduce bipartisan criminal justice bill

The bill, originally introduced in 2015, would reduce mandatory minimum sentences for certain drug offenses and armed career criminals while increasing mandatory minimums for other offenses such as domestic violence.
 
“While the political landscape in Washington has changed, the same problems presented by the current sentencing regime remain,” Grassley said in a statement.
 
Durbin, noting senators have been working on the issue for five years, called it the “best chance in a generation to right the wrongs of a badly broken system.”
 
“We believe this legislation would pass the Senate with a strong bipartisan vote — it’s time to get this done,” he said.

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To Agree or Disagree Respectfully. Why is it so Difficult in Todays World?

Our country was founded over 200 years ago after enough colonists agreed that the rule by the King of England no longer made sense for the colonies.  They did not agree on every aspect of the how and the why, but they all agreed that it must change.  The biggest aspect of agreement and disagreement in the birth of our Nation was the right of each human to agree and disagree.  There foremost ideal that drove the creation of our constitution, can be said to be creating a government that could stand for and thrive while maintaining this and other freedoms.

This turned out to be a humongous task and goal. First and foremost the procedure and processes for dealing with disagreement had to be agreed upon. There will always be different beliefs and ideals.  However, most of all they understood that in order to have peace while preserving everyone’s ability to exercise their Freedoms, they must have a process and rules for dealing with Disagreement or conflicts of personal Freedoms between all people. This is where the concept of Liberty was created and defined. Liberty, for the sake of our constitution, would be the definition of civility and common agreement on how to deal with Freedoms in all situations, including when there is disagreement.

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White House hits back at Oregon’s senators over appeals court nomination

In the ongoing dispute between the state’s two U.S. senators and the Trump administration, the White House counsel accuses the lawmakers of failing to consider the administration’s pick for a judicial vacancy on a federal appellate court.

The White House last week nominated Assistant U.S. Attorney Ryan Bounds, a young, politically conservative federal prosecutor, for the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. Sens. Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley, both Democrats, want U.S. District Judge Marco A. Hernandez, a Republican, for the vacancy.

Wyden and Merkley have vowed to block Bounds’ nomination, saying that he wasn’t vetted through their bipartisan judicial selection committee.

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Other FBI agents at scene of LaVoy Finicum shooting testified before grand jury

Other members of the FBI’s Hostage Rescue Team involved in the stop of refuge occupation spokesman Robert “LaVoy” Finicum testified before a federal grand jury that returned an indictment against their colleague, Agent W. Joseph Astarita. 

Prosecutors have asked the court for permission to share transcripts of the agents’ testimony with a nationally recognized ballistics and trajectory expert who they may call as a witness at trial.

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IFF presses Zinke for help in Bunkerville standoff trial

The Idaho Freedom Foundation, in partnership with the Nevada Policy Research Institute, pressed U.S. Department of Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke to weigh in on the Bunkerville standoff trial situation.

Here’s a copy of IFF and NPRI’s letter to Zinke:

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Idaho lawmakers to Sessions: Drop it already

Republican Idaho representative Dorothy Moon and more than one-third of the other legislators in her state sent a letter to U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions encouraging him to drop the charges against two Idaho men being charged in association with the April 2014 “Bundy standoff, to establish a fair bail for one, and to give one a “time served” sentence.

Eric Parker and O. Scott Drexler, both from Idaho, have been tried twice in US District Court under Judge Gloria Navarro. Both trials resulted in a hung jury, and the men were both acquitted of most charges in the second trial.

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Did Navarro Cause the Jury to Nullify?

The recent case of the Bunkerville Retrial ended with 34 of 40 charges to be found ‘Not Guilty’ and the remaining charges to be 11-1 in favor of acquittal by the jury.

This trial had an unusual element involved, specifically allowing the jury to ask questions of the witnesses. This is not unheard of in lower level courts, but almost never used at the Federal level. It was not allowed in the first trial of these defendants.

Judge Navarro rarely censored any jury question for the prosecution witnesses. However it became very apparent that she would not allow the jury to ask their pressing questions when it came to the defense.

Defendant Eric Parker attempted to testify, yet was removed from the witness stand by Judge Navarro after a few minutes. The jury saw this, and was left in confusion when it was not explained.

We learned from the transcripts what was said during the sidebars:

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Upcoming Bundy Ranch Trial: Prosecution Files First Documents And They’re Gonna Be Using Facebook & Youtube

The prosecution in the upcoming Bundy Ranch trial has filed its first documents, known as the Rule 16 document, which lists the witnesses they plan to call to testify, what their expertise is and what their specific testimony is to be about.

“RULE 16 IS REVISED TO GIVE GREATER DISCOVERY TO BOTH THE PROSECUTION AND THE DEFENSE. SUBDIVISION (A) DEALS WITH DISCLOSURE OF EVIDENCE BY THE GOVERNMENT. … THE LANGUAGE OF THE RULE IS RECAST FROM “THE COURT MAY ORDER” OR “THE COURT SHALL ORDER” TO “THE GOVERNMENT SHALL PERMIT” OR “THE DEFENDANT SHALL PERMIT.”

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California man who outed FBI informants in refuge takeover case found in civil contempt of court

A federal judge has found California resident Gary Hunt, who published the names of confidential informants who helped the FBI during the armed takeover of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, in contempt of a court’s protective order.

U.S. District Judge Anna J. Brown has given Hunt until noon on Wednesday to remove the articles on his blog that reference the informants and destroy all government documents he received on the informants.

If he doesn’t, he’ll face more “coercive sanctions,” the judge wrote in her 23-page ruling.

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Gary Hunt : Notice – Get Them While You Can

In a “Finding
of Facts and Conclusions of Law Finding Gary Hunt in Civil
Contempt”, Judge Anna Brown has determined that Hunt has
violated judge made law in excerpting information from FBI Form
1023s in his series of articles about informants.  

Through thorough
investigation of those forms, Hunt was able to determine who
informants involved in the occupation of the Malheur National
Wildlife Refuge were. To  provide proof of his assertions,
rather than simply make unfounded accusation, necessity required
proof of those claims be included in the articles..

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Schuyler Barbeau Sentenced to 27 Months in Prison

Schuyler Barbeau plead guilty to two Federal charges, including possession of an unregistered firearm and possession of a machine gun, on June 6th. Each count could have carry up to a maximum of 10 years in Prison plus hefty fines. Judge Robert Jones waived the fines and ordered minimum fees of $100.00 per count.

Today, Barbeau was given 27 months for the two counts, plus three years of probation. He has also lost his rights to possess firearms.

Barbeau has been incarcerated since December 2015. If he were to serve the entire sentence he would not be released prior to March 2018, another 6 months. However, he is eligible for early release, totaling 108 days. This means that he is expected to return home before Christmas.

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Oregon’s U.S. senators urge Trump to keep U.S. Attorney Billy Williams

Oregon’s U.S. senators have urged President Trump to retain Billy J. Williams as the state’s top federal prosecutor.

Sens. Jeff Merkley and Ron Wyden say Williams is a prosecutor with integrity who enjoys bipartisan support and should remain Oregon’s U.S. attorney.

The two signed an Aug. 16 letter to White House counsel Donald F. MGahn II  and included a letter of support from the Oregon State Sheriff’s Association.

So far, no word has come from the Trump administration regarding the post.

Williams was named acting U.S. attorney in April 2015 after Amanda Marshall resigned amid a sexual harassment investigation. Early last year, he was appointed to the post by Chief U.S. District Judge Michael W. Mosman.

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REAL NEWS • David Knight (3rd HOUR) Wednesday 9/6/17: Shari Dovale: Bunkerville

REAL NEWS • David Knight (3rd HOUR) Wednesday 9/6/17: Shari Dovale: Bunkerville

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Why Is Sessions Allowing Obama Holdovers To Prosecute Bundys?

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Recent developments have caused Trump supporters to ask why Attorney General Jeff Sessions is allowing Obama holdovers in the Department of Justice to continue prosecuting Bundy ranch cases, despite continuing set-backs.

On Thursday, Aug. 22, the Obama administration holdovers in the Department of Justice suffered a huge set-back in the trial of four defendants accused of various federal criminal charges over the 2014 Bundy ranch standoff ended with no convictions.

Two of the defendants were acquitted of all charges, while the remaining two defendants were acquitted of most charges.

With the “not guilty” verdict, the defendants Richard R. Lovelien and Stewart A. Stewart were acquitted of all charges, and released from federal prison in Nevada, after having been incarcerated without bail for some 18 months in federal prison awaiting trial.

The remaining two defendants, Eric Parker and Scott Drexler will be forced to endure yet a third trial, as the Obama administration holdover prosecutors decided to retry them yet a third trial on the remaining weapons charges on which no verdict was declared, reportedly because one of the 12 jurors in the second trial would not agree to a “not guilty” verdict.

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Vegas Lawyers Discuss The Bundy Verdicts And Jury Nullification

Video : Las Vegas Lawyers Show – Discusses the Bundy Ranch Supporters Trials in Las Vegas as Trial 2 of the 3rd Tier completes with acquittal on most but not all charges.

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Portland sex attack suspect’s 12 deportations inflame immigration debate

Sergio Martinez returned to Portland after nearly a decade’s absence. But he’d been busy in the meantime: Deported 12 times. Convicted three times for illegal re-entry. A rap sheet of crimes from burglary to theft in three states.

Immigration agents noticed his name on a Multnomah County list of jail inmates last December. They asked the Sheriff’s Office to alert them before releasing Martinez so they could send him back to Mexico one more time.

But they never heard a word. Martinez spent a night in the downtown jail, then was out.

Police in Portland arrested Martinez five more times over the next six months. Each time, he was booked into jail. Each time, immigration agents had no idea that he’d been arrested, booked and released.

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Bunkerville Was Never About The Cows

After seeing their God-given and Constitutionally-guaranteed rights being trampled on by the over-reaching Federal alphabet agencies, people across the nation rallied to defend the rights our country was founded on.

(Pictured: Cliven Bundy walks by a first amendment area set up by the Bureau of Land Management near Bunkerville, Nev.)
Videos on network news stations and around the internet depicted an elderly woman being thrown to the ground by law enforcement, a man being tazed repeatedly, and a “first amendment zone” set up miles away for protesters to stay out of the way of the Bureau of Land Management (BLM).

These citizens rightfully feared another Waco or Ruby Ridge encounter, and believed that citizens showing up in force, with cameras to record and witnesses to confirm, would reign-in the out-of-control government.

The government came heavily armed with hundreds of officers. They carried military-grade weapons and dressed in Battle-ready uniforms. That side of the fence looked like a war zone from Afghanistan.

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Judge sets October trial for rancher Cliven Bundy, others

A federal judge on Thursday set an October trial date for seven Bunkerville standoff defendants, including rancher Cliven Bundy.

Meanwhile, a group of lawmakers in Idaho, where at least five defendants lived before being arrested, are asking U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions to release the four Idaho defendants who remain in custody.

An Aug. 29 letter authored by Idaho Rep. Dorothy Moon, a Republican, and signed by 38 other state legislators references recent acquittals in the case. A copy of the letter, addressed to Sessions, was sent to President Donald Trump.

“Further exploitation of these citizens would be an affront to justice and notice to the public of prosecutorial harassment,” the letter states.

Steven Stewart of Idaho and Ricky Lovelien of Montana were found not guilty in August during a retrial in which Scott Drexler and Eric Parker, both Idaho residents, were acquitted of a majority of charges they faced.

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Trial date set for Cliven Bundy, 6 others in Nevada standoff

LAS VEGAS (AP) — An October date was set on Thursday for the trial of Nevada cattleman and state’s rights figure Cliven Bundy and six other defendants in an armed standoff that stopped government agents from rounding up Bundy cattle near Bunkerville in 2014.
Jury selection will start Oct. 10 in Las Vegas for Bundy, two of his sons and four other men, Chief U.S. District Judge Gloria Navarro decided. The trial will include two defendants who were released to home detention after their recent retrial ended with no verdicts on assault on a federal officer and related firearm charges, but acquittal on other charges.

One Bundy son, Ammon Bundy, refused to be brought to court for the hearing from federal custody. His lawyer, Daniel Hill, said his client objects to being strip-searched when he is transported.

Another Bundy son, Ryan Bundy, serving as his own lawyer, told the judge that he deserved to be released after spending more than 18 months in federal custody and that his right to a speedy trial has been “violated terribly.”

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Schaeffer Cox Not Guilty of Solicitation!

In a stunning ruling by the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, Schaeffer Cox’s conviction on “solicitation to murder a federal official” has been overturned. Citing someone close to the case, the 9th Circuit found, “that it is clear that no rational trier of fact could find Defendant guilty of solicitation to murder a federal official.”

Furthermore, the 9th vacated Cox’s sentences on all counts of his conviction, and remanded it back to the District Court where new sentencing must be ordered.

If the District Court was interested in justice, it would sentence Schaeffer Cox to time served. Please let your voices be heard at the United States District Court of Alaska in Anchorage by calling 1-866-243-3814 or by writing Chief Judge Burgess at [email protected].

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